Doctor Who series 7 press launch news round-up

The series split, the Christmas special, live events, Matt Smith and more feature in a bumper round-up of new Doctor Who news...

This evening saw the press launch for Doctor Who series 7 (since it was revived), which featured a screening of the first episode, Asylum Of The Daleks. Our spoiler-free review of that is here.

But we also learned a few other things throughout the evening, that we’ve rounded up here. Most of this came courtesy of the Q&A after the screening (highlight: a young girl admonishing host Richard Bacon for calling her “little”). Here’s what we found out:

* The running sequence of the new series will see a first block of five episodes transmitted, then a break, then the Christmas special, then a break, then the last eight episodes in the spring. That’s generally what had been suspected, but it was confirmed at the event.
* The Christmas special, which is currently shooting, is set in Victorian times, revealed Steven Moffat (after conferring with Caroline Skinner).
* The title sequence to the show has undergone a slight evolution.
* There are plans, but nothing concrete yet, for more live events to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the show next year. In particular, Caroline Skinner cited the Proms, although she didn’t indicate that a new one was coming.
* Mark Gatiss has been wanting to do his upcoming drama on the creation of Doctor Who, which is set to be broadcast in 2013, since before the show was revived in 2005.
* Reports that Matt Smith has signed a new contract to 2014 are news to Matt Smith. In his own words: “It sounds like you’ve signed something else, when in fact I was always going to be around”.
* Of the episodes he’s written, Steven Moffat’s least favourite is The Beast Below (although there are ideas in it he likes very much). The one he’s proudest of (even if you don’t think it’s his best, he says) is The Eleventh Hour, given just how much ground it had to cover in one hour of television.

As for the transmission date, there’s no formal announcement that’s been made. We’ve read the new Internet rumour that suggests it might be 1st September, but nobody was telling us anything for definite. Expect an announcement soon, though...